Investment Adviser CCO Fined and Suspended for One Year for Firm’s Alleged Misleading Registration Filing

To resolve an enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, David Osunkwo, a principal of the consulting firm SC Consulting and former chief compliance officer for two formerly affiliated investment advisers (IAs) – Aegis Capital and Circle One – agreed to pay a fine of US $30,000 for causing Circle One to file an amended Form ADV with the SEC in April 2011 that purportedly contained inaccurate information.

(Mr. Osunkwo served as CCO of the two investment advisers on a rent-a-CCO basis; the two IAs apparently merged in 2010.) According to the SEC, Circle One’s Form ADV overstated its amount under management and total client accounts.

The SEC claimed that Mr. Osunkwo was responsible for this error because he completed the Form ADV based on information provided in writing to him by the chief investment officer “without taking sufficient steps to ascertain [its] accuracy.” As part of his settlement, Mr. Osunkwo also agreed not to associate with any SEC registrant for 12 months, among other sanctions.